Site Recon
Site Recon is a new type of Council Mission introduced in XCOM: Enemy Within. There is only one Site Recon mission, a special mission to investigate a fishing village in Canada. Acquisition This mission is offered following XCOM's first encounter with Chryssalids (typically a Terror Site mission) during the game's first playthrough, and becomes part of the random pool of Council Missions in subsequent playthroughs. It is initiated by a Council transmission received at the Situation Room: Mission Brief Objectives Preliminary Mission Overview This mission plays out on a large new map which details a portion of the fishing village's docks and market area. As the squad investigates they will first encounter Zombie villagers and then Chryssalids who have mysteriously overtaken the town. Advancing along the docks, the squad will come upon a large wrecked ship that appears to be the source of the alien infestation. Boarding the vessel, the squad discovers the Chryssalids have turned a whale carcass into a breeding hive. Upon the whale corpse being revealed, a new Chryssalid will burst from it each turn; prior to and after this event, solitary Chryssalids may also be encountered erupting from sharks or large fish hanging on the docks or aboard the boat. With the source of the infestation identified, the squad is tasked with turning on the ship's transponder (located on the ship's bridge) so an airstrike can eliminate the threat. Once the transponder is activated, the squad will have 8 turns to reach the evacuation zone before the airstrike hits. To further complicate matters the number of Chryssalids that burst from the hive increases as time goes on to as many as three at once. If the airstrike timer expires, any squad members in the EVAC zone will survive, while anyone outside the zone will not. Tactics * A squad member equipped with the Mimic Beacon can delay and concentrate the enemies with ease. Use when the team is retreating. It is one of the few, and best uses of the item in the game. * When approaching the large ship from the broadside, on the seaside, a squad member with the Skeleton Suit can grapple hook near the transponder, activate it and return quickly, while the squad waits ouside the ship, on the docks, overwatching emerging enemies. * Since all of the enemies encountered during this mission are melee units, the use of cover is unnecessary during combat and while fleeing to the extraction point. Additionally, as these enemies don't drop weapon fragments or other artifacts, explosives may be used without negative repercussions. * Mobility and firepower play a much bigger role in this mission than do armor or healing. * Positioning one or two Snipers with Squadsight atop the high building at the beginning of the mission (or on the topmost deck of the first boat) may be advisable, as he/she will be nigh invulnerable to the Zombies, force the Chryssalids to use Leap before moving into position to attack (providing additional time to react), and will be able to hit nearly anything the squad can see due to the height advantage. Also, if things go south, the player will at least be able to evacuate a Sniper (and possibly complete the mission) instead of losing the entire squad. * Assault soldiers with Close Combat specialization can, if placed strategically, shoot multiple chryssalids during a single turn. * The hanging sharks and fish can be annihilated by any attack that destroys cover (grenades, rockets, Collateral Damage, Kinetic Punch, etc.), killing any Chryssalid inside before it becomes a threat. * Chryssalids hatching from a fish/shark/whale will not take any actions on the turn they hatch; however, their emergence will trigger soldier Overwatch attacks. Chryssalids hatching from zombies do not have such a limitation and can take full actions on the same turn they hatch. * Only one soldier is required to activate the transponder, therefore it's viable to keep the rest of the squad near the whale carcass, or even outside the ship (ex., on the upper deck of the nearby boats), focused on distracting and killing the emerging Chryssalids. A Support with the Sprinter ability is an ideal candidate to make the run for the transponder. Once the transponder is enabled, the entire team should make its way to the exit, while the snipers take care of any chryssalids that get too close (it's generally not necessary to kill more than one or two). * This mission can be extremely difficult if the player is ill-prepared. In some cases it might be necessary to sacrifice a squad member (or even multiple members) in order to evacuate as many troops as possible. When heading for the evacuation zone, dash your soldiers as much as possible and try not to waste squad actions by engaging Chryssalids unless absolutely necessary. * It is perfectly possible to win the mission without any advanced weaponry and extract all squad members if one is aware of the movement options and has a retreat planned out. * If every member of the squad is equipped with Archangel Armor, this mission becomes almost trivial, as a flying soldier is effectively invulnerable to melee units. Enemies can be shot at leisure, and evacuation after transponder activation is simplified. * It's possible to completely "deplete" the whale of Chryssalids before activating the transponder. This would allow for all but one member of the squad to move most of the way back to the EVAC zone while one soldier (preferably a Support with the Sprinter ability) activates the transponder before dashing repeatedly to catch up. However once the transponder is activated enemies start spawning again, and it is possible to lose the soldier who stayed behind to activate the transponder. Status Updates The following status updates are received from Central Officer Bradford during the mission: Mission Debriefing Rewards Panic reduction in Canada. Notes *None of the Chryssalid corpses can be salvaged since they are destroyed by the airstrike, so don't expect to farm corpses for Chitin Plating or Needle Grenades. * It's possible to completely "deplete" the whale of Chryssalids before activating the transponder. However once the transponder is activated, enemies start spawning again. If you have a MEC with Proximity Mine Launcher, mines can be placed around the carcass and the ship's exits before triggering the transponder for some easy kills while safely retreating to the evac site. * Even if every single Chryssalid is killed, the airstrike will happen on its scheduled turn, killing any soldier who is not in the EVAC zone. * It is possible to cheat the airstrike: if a soldier is bleeding out and either everyone else is able to reach the EVAC zone before they die; or the airstrike will occur before the soldier bleeds out, do NOT try to save the soldier, they will be fine and somehow survive an airstrike. * Inside the large building at the start of the mission, there is a map of West Virginia on the right wall (from the beginning of the mission). It is unknown why there would be a map of West Virginia in a town in Canada. * It is possible to move one soldier into the EVAC zone right before the airstrike cinematic plays if close enough. That soldier will survive the airstrike. Trivia *The line "I guess we should just be thankful it wasn't a cruise liner" is a reference to the original X-COM sequel, Terror From the Deep that occasionally featured Terror Missions on Cruise Liners Category:Missions (XCOM: Enemy Unknown) Category:XCOM: Enemy Within